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Sunbag
A simple sleeping bag made out of thick sunlight-resistant materials used by Kindred to sleep safely. It covers the entire body and has the zipper on the inside. Only particularly brave Kindred dare sleep with only this as protection, and in some circles, “sleeping outside” for a day is a test of courage. Common among travelling Gangrel who have yet to master sleeping in the earth.

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I've never really had a player try that hard to day walk, because most people are cognizant of the fact that it is against the themes of the game. But if one of my players persisted, I would probably throw increasingly difficult frenzy checks at them to dissuade them. The Red Fear is not something that can be contravened by a video helmet and some latex. You are walking around in broad daylight. If someone takes off your helmet, you are dead. If someone even creates a small tear in your suit, you are dead. And you will be very very very aware of these risks. So you will be afraid and susceptible to frenzy.

And if all else fails, I would just say &quot;Did you really think I was going to let you outsmart God?&quot;

The idea is not to truly daywalk, it's to be able to survive if you're caught outside by sunrise and have to improvise or if the coterie is returning late to the haven and have to brave a couple of minutes of sunlight.
I never said it was a sane idea, hence the Malkavian scientist thing.

Finally, about -trying- to outsmart God, why not? Vampires are already cheating death, aren't they? At a heavy price, of course, but still doing it.

And there are ways for vampires to be allowed a measured and conditional amount of waking time during daylight, be it Thaumaturgical or Necromantic rituals or merits like early riser or light sleeper.

Thing is it depends on the ST and I find the possibility of allowing the PC or NPCs some high risk flexibility regarding sunlight really interesting.

I'm not talking about Blade like day walking just some margin with sunrise or waking during the day because of danger.

Although someone on Discord mentioned day walking thin bloods in v5... I might have to get that book after all 😁

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Revised Guide to the Anarchs had something similar where it describes a character sleeping in a body bag tucked into a drain pipe. It wasn't his first choice but when caught outside with miles to the nearest haven and the sun about to come up you make do with what you can.

Also reminds me of the DA Clan Novels where the recently embraced Ravnos protagonist Zoe had to submerge herself into a barrel of water (at least I think it was water, could have been wine) to sleep in during the day.

English is not my native language, so i apologize for errors in grammar or spelling.

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The quote you provided means the armor doesn't contribute soak dice versus fire (unless it's a fire suit) or sunlight. Making a light-proof suit is still possible; just because a vampire is wearing something does not mean sunlight magically makes it through when it otherwise would not.

The practicality of such a thing would, as stated, be pretty dodgy. Its mere existence would be a Masquerade violation, let alone using it to operate in daytime, especially as is the case of fireproof suits it would provide no immunity to Rotshreck. A reduction in the difficulty roll, sure, but not immunity. The best-case scenario would be for use as an emergency fall-back in case of haven compromise, but in that case would likely still be impractical because the potential armor penalty to Dexterity, and Perception penalties for working blind or with compromised senses, would harm vampires' already-reduced dice pools for acting in daytime.

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I read on a discord post that, in v5, vampires can take shelter from the sun by enclosing themselves in a "sunbag" which is supposed to be like a totally enclosed sleeping bag.

Not having yet bought v5, can anyone that has please tell me if it truly is so?

If it is then futuristic fully isolated and helmeted suits could do the same, no?

I always found it odd that being in full darkness in a building would protect a vampire whereas a fully radiation isolated suit with video feeds for the sight would not.

So this rumor is quite interesting as it opens a number of avenues for tech savvy characters to find opportunities in finding creative solutions to the sunlight issue.

From the original post it was unclear to me whether DuncanD's reaction to a sunlight protection suit was: "OMG, how am I going to run my game with pcs running around during the day? This is terrible!" or "Wow! That is ten tons of awesome! I need that in my game, right now!"

So, I gave both options.

If you don't want such a suit, I offered a canon rule related to armor that makes it arguably not do-able raw. Also, the logistical issues of building a workshop in which to create the many different complex materials needed to build a suit which is fully opaque (not as simple as it sounds, as opacity is a matter of degrees), durable enough to out-perform the vampire's resistance to injury (what's the point of being immortal if stepping on a thumb-tack can kill you?), and flexible enough (especially at those very tricky joints and flexion points like the knees, elbows, fingers, and hips) to allow sufficent range of motion to accomplish whatever mission you're trying to complete.

If, otoh, you do want such a suit... go ahead and houserule it in. Frankly, I was dubious until I saw the pictures of the suits you have in mind. "Rule of cool" is always a strong argument. And, those suits scream "cool".

I would only caution, since you are STing for the first time, to be careful how you introduce the suit. If you present it as a MacGuffin that drives the plot in some way, that's fine. ("Who stole the suit?" "Why did the scientist stop developing it?" "Has the SI discovered a paper trail for the supplies needed for the suit's construction?" "Does this armored suit make my ass look big?") If, however, you simply hand it to the players as a solution to whatever is the main challenge they are dealing with this week, it could remove player agency. You're the ST, it's your job to present the storylines, themes, and conflicts... not the solutions.

Also, consider how it impacts the economics of chagen. If I created a character as a Gangrel, and put all of my points into Fortitude and Protean so I could dare to risk operating near the sunrise, but the Ventrue of the coterie just had their assistant order a sun-proof suit from a website... well, as the player of a Gangrel pc, I'd be annoyed.

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I read on a discord post that, in v5, vampires can take shelter from the sun by enclosing themselves in a "sunbag" which is supposed to be like a totally enclosed sleeping bag.

Not having yet bought v5, can anyone that has please tell me if it truly is so?

If it is then futuristic fully isolated and helmeted suits could do the same, no?

I always found it odd that being in full darkness in a building would protect a vampire whereas a fully radiation isolated suit with video feeds for the sight would not.

So this rumor is quite interesting as it opens a number of avenues for tech savvy characters to find opportunities in finding creative solutions to the sunlight issue.

The problem is that you're thinking about this from a scientific point of view. If the threat of sunlight had a scientific origin to it, then why don't UV lamps cause vampires to burst into flames? They produce the same kind of light as the sun, don't they? Or how about the sunlight reflected off the surface of a full moon?

No, a vampire's weakness to sunlight has some kind of mystical quality to it, and if the solution to the problem was as simple as just strapping themselves into an environmental suit, then the kindred would have figured it out a long time ago. Especially if they were Sabbat, given how they are so fixated on conquering the world of mortals.

Besides, any kind of visor that can shield the vampire from sunlight on the level that you're asking for would probably have to be as dark as a pair of eclipse glasses, which would leave the vampire incapable of seeing anything, unless they stared directly at the sun itself.

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The problem is that you're thinking about this from a scientific point of view. If the threat of sunlight had a scientific origin to it, then why don't UV lamps cause vampires to burst into flames? They produce the same kind of light as the sun, don't they? Or how about the sunlight reflected off the surface of a full moon?

Just for clarity's sake, UV lamps do hurt some vampires.

No, a vampire's weakness to sunlight has some kind of mystical quality to it, and if the solution to the problem was as simple as just strapping themselves into an environmental suit, then the kindred would have figured it out a long time ago. Especially if they were Sabbat, given how they are so fixated on conquering the world of mortals.

The problem, as noted, isn't that one can't use extreme cover to stay safe. Just that things like staying awake (not sure how it works in V5, but it was really tough in V20 and capped your dice pool), fear frenzy (seeing the sun at day will probably still cause frenzy) and inherent risk (your suit can still get torn open easily enough).

Besides, any kind of visor that can shield the vampire from sunlight on the level that you're asking for would probably have to be as dark as a pair of eclipse glasses, which would leave the vampire incapable of seeing anything, unless they stared directly at the sun itself.

Which is why they specifically noted using exterior cameras instead of a visor.

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The problem, as noted, isn't that one can't use extreme cover to stay safe. Just that things like staying awake (not sure how it works in V5, but it was really tough in V20 and capped your dice pool), fear frenzy (seeing the sun at day will probably still cause frenzy) and inherent risk (your suit can still get torn open easily enough).

Which is why they specifically noted using exterior cameras instead of a visor.

1 - Huh... they seemed perfectly harmless in the Bloodlines game, which first introduced me to Masquerade.

2 - I'm skeptical on the part about minor wear and tear being an issue. We know this is true for normal hazmat suits, because of the threat of decompression, temperature changes, flooding, est. But if the purpose of the suit is just to block out sunlight, then a tiny little hole probably won't result in the vampire exploding into ashes. Especially not if it's got multiple layers of protection to it.

3 - Right, I think I missed that.

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From the original post it was unclear to me whether DuncanD's reaction to a sunlight protection suit was: "OMG, how am I going to run my game with pcs running around during the day? This is terrible!" or "Wow! That is ten tons of awesome! I need that in my game, right now!"

So, I gave both options.

If you don't want such a suit, I offered a canon rule related to armor that makes it arguably not do-able raw. Also, the logistical issues of building a workshop in which to create the many different complex materials needed to build a suit which is fully opaque (not as simple as it sounds, as opacity is a matter of degrees), durable enough to out-perform the vampire's resistance to injury (what's the point of being immortal if stepping on a thumb-tack can kill you?), and flexible enough (especially at those very tricky joints and flexion points like the knees, elbows, fingers, and hips) to allow sufficent range of motion to accomplish whatever mission you're trying to complete.

If, otoh, you do want such a suit... go ahead and houserule it in. Frankly, I was dubious until I saw the pictures of the suits you have in mind. "Rule of cool" is always a strong argument. And, those suits scream "cool".

I would only caution, since you are STing for the first time, to be careful how you introduce the suit. If you present it as a MacGuffin that drives the plot in some way, that's fine. ("Who stole the suit?" "Why did the scientist stop developing it?" "Has the SI discovered a paper trail for the supplies needed for the suit's construction?" "Does this armored suit make my ass look big?") If, however, you simply hand it to the players as a solution to whatever is the main challenge they are dealing with this week, it could remove player agency. You're the ST, it's your job to present the storylines, themes, and conflicts... not the solutions.

Also, consider how it impacts the economics of chagen. If I created a character as a Gangrel, and put all of my points into Fortitude and Protean so I could dare to risk operating near the sunrise, but the Ventrue of the coterie just had their assistant order a sun-proof suit from a website... well, as the player of a Gangrel pc, I'd be annoyed.

Well, I was indeed going for the cool effect

Actually, I'm thinking about setting the chronicle in New York by having the PCs arrive by boat or plane because they have been "rewarded" with the opportunity to make their havens in NYC, only to find out it was utter BS just to get rid of them. So they get sent to see the prince but she's busy, so is the Senechal and so forth until they get set the task to answer the request of a Malkavian scientist to whom the Prince owed a boon for his assistance in the battle for New York. They are to to help her/him with whatever he/she needed as *part* of the price for coming to NYC and not be turned to ash immediately.

I was thinking about having the scientist send them on errands for materials with fuzzy explanations (that would allow me to have them go around and discover the geography and meet people - and maybe kill them )

The suit would be discovered by the players if they played their cards right but it's value would have to be deduced and they would have to decide to try it out or maybe the scientist would lock them in a individual cell with a magnificent view to the east and a suit in the wardrobe...

I hadn't thought about the frenzy risk but it makes the suit more usable in the story by being less useful to the PCs as they have to decide if the risk is worth it.

I'm actually just building the NPCs and creating locations for now but I wanted to try and project the chronicle in a more "realistic" world a bit like "the Dark Knight" did for Batman without going full second inquisition yet. I might go there once lorewise when i get the 5th edition book but i'll stay on v20 for the time being. The idea is to populate the world with as many interesting NPCs as I can as well as MacGuffins to then start mixing them for the scenario.

Another Macguffin i'm thinking about adding is the daylight ammo from the Underworld. It would be very rare (irradiated fluid) and expensive but it would keep player on their toes when thinking about just ramming through human NPCs. One of the characters will be a mob boss inspired from Jim Butcher's Dresden Chronicles Johnny Marcone and he will have a gun with daylight and silver ammo.

I didn't think about the Gangrel issue you mentioned, damn... But the characters will either be exported from the chronicle we are playing if still alive at the end or freshly created with the same experience so maybe it won't be an issue, especially since the player running the Gangrel in the coterie hasn't been using their protean like that at all...

I'm really grateful to all the answers to this post and my previous ones as they helped me to see how to build this chronicle how i want it but by keeping the spirit of the game (people die and they'll hard choices). Thank You !

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The quote you provided means the armor doesn't contribute soak dice versus fire (unless it's a fire suit) or sunlight. Making a light-proof suit is still possible; just because a vampire is wearing something does not mean sunlight magically makes it through when it otherwise would not.

The practicality of such a thing would, as stated, be pretty dodgy. Its mere existence would be a Masquerade violation, let alone using it to operate in daytime, especially as is the case of fireproof suits it would provide no immunity to Rotshreck. A reduction in the difficulty roll, sure, but not immunity. The best-case scenario would be for use as an emergency fall-back in case of haven compromise, but in that case would likely still be impractical because the potential armor penalty to Dexterity, and Perception penalties for working blind or with compromised senses, would harm vampires' already-reduced dice pools for acting in daytime.

I don't understand the masquerade violation issue. To any non informed human, it would just be some kind of military tech/stealth suit, I think.

I don't actually want it to be super practical and it's mostly for the cool effect and to tempt players into operations where they might have to race the sun back to the haven or try and escape the have besieged by enemy ghouls. The only real issue I see would be the inequity to Gangrel characters pointed out by Nosimplehiway.

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The problem, as noted, isn't that one can't use extreme cover to stay safe. Just that things like staying awake (not sure how it works in V5, but it was really tough in V20 and capped your dice pool), fear frenzy (seeing the sun at day will probably still cause frenzy) and inherent risk (your suit can still get torn open easily enough).

Which is why they specifically noted using exterior cameras instead of a visor.

Actually, these drawbacks are actually adding to the usefulness of the suit story wise as the characters have to make the calculus and decide if they want to risk it or not.
I'm thinking about adding an armoured version that would hamper mobility and provide protection against UV rounds. But that's for later, i'm just populating the setting now.
I'm going for something between traditional v20 with some elements from underworld added in.
The idea is to add tech that has advantages and drawbacks a bit like in a janken game and mostly to introduce uncertainty when dealing with regular humans (Johnny Marcone wouldn't take any shit from no licks, no sir!)

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1 - Huh... they seemed perfectly harmless in the Bloodlines game, which first introduced me to Masquerade.

2 - I'm skeptical on the part about minor wear and tear being an issue. We know this is true for normal hazmat suits, because of the threat of decompression, temperature changes, flooding, est. But if the purpose of the suit is just to block out sunlight, then a tiny little hole probably won't result in the vampire exploding into ashes. Especially not if it's got multiple layers of protection to it.

3 - Right, I think I missed that.

Actually, this idea is me having a brainstorming attack from someone mentioning v5 "sunbags" on discord. I always had an issues with the low tech world in Vampire, so this has been a kind of trigger for me.
By the same token, I'd assimilate a hole in a sunsuit to the effect of an airborne extremely corrosive compound (or very active biological agent) would have on an operator wearing a compromised hazmat suit while having lost positive pressure.

If PCs want to use these suits the'd have to treat them like a pilot that checks his plane and soldiers that do a buddy check before an airdrop. I'm not thinking about causing issues very often but if they do not check the suits, shit will happen.

Did i say UV ammo and silver ammo will be a thing? Yes it will

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Actually, this idea is me having a brainstorming attack from someone mentioning v5 "sunbags" on discord. I always had an issues with the low tech world in Vampire, so this has been a kind of trigger for me.
By the same token, I'd assimilate a hole in a sunsuit to the effect of an airborne extremely corrosive compound (or very active biological agent) would have on an operator wearing a compromised hazmat suit while having lost positive pressure.

If PCs want to use these suits the'd have to treat them like a pilot that checks his plane and soldiers that do a buddy check before an airdrop. I'm not thinking about causing issues very often but if they do not check the suits, shit will happen.

Did i say UV ammo and silver ammo will be a thing? Yes it will

Well, remember, the purpose of the suit is to block out sunlight, and that's really the only thing that it absolutely needs to do. Vampires are impervious to most other forms of environmental hazards and biological contaminates. I think the previous idea about reinforcing the suit with Kevlar, or some other damage resistant material is the best choice to go with, since even if the outer suit is breached, the interior will still be protected.

Creating a suit that perfectly blocks out the sun, doesn't sound that hard, either. I mean, can you honestly tell me that your own home is 100% shielded from the elements like an environmental suit would be?

Probably not, and yet vampires are still able to fortify their Havens enough to keep the sun out. All it takes is some wooden planks over the windows and they can rest for 12 hours in comfort. So creating a full body suit that can do the same should be much easier than it sounds.

The big question then becomes not "if" the vampires could design something like that, but "why" they have yet to do so.

Comment

Another Macguffin i'm thinking about adding is the daylight ammo from the Underworld. It would be very rare (irradiated fluid) and expensive but it would keep player on their toes when thinking about just ramming through human NPCs. One of the characters will be a mob boss inspired from Jim Butcher's Dresden Chronicles Johnny Marcone and he will have a gun with daylight and silver ammo.

I'd recommend having some sort of Hedge Mage/Faithful to create the ammo rather than having a purely science answer. Hedge mage could enchant it with sunlight, Faithful being Holy Water or Blessed silver. Even a garou/Kinfolk that is technically creating talens from Helios spirits.